Samsung has announced that its research and development spending reached a record high this year. According to the company, it spent KRW 10.58 trillion (around $8.9 billion) in R&D during the first half of 2020 to focus on new growth areas. The company's R&D spending was KRW 500 billion higher than its numbers from H1 2019.
The research and development spending by Samsung accounted for 9.8 percent of its sales during the first six months of 2020. Out of its capital expenditure of KRW 17.1 trillion during the year, KRW 14.7 was spent on the chip business. According to the report, the company hired 1,400 new employees, and the total number of its employees in South Korea reached 106,074.
Samsung's top five customers during the first half of 2020 were Apple, Deutsche Telekom, Tektronix Hong Kong, Huawei, and Verizon. The company had a 32.4 percent market share in the TV segment and 16.3 percent market share in the smartphone segment. Its market share in the DRAM chip and smartphone display panel markets was 43.8 percent and 41.3 percent, respectively.
The South Korean tech giant had spent $8.4 billion during the first half of last year, and the number for the whole year was $16.5 billion. Samsung is among the top brands in the world when it comes to R&D spending.
